Thought I would be the first to post anything on to the Vendee section of the site. I note I have not been on line since end August, so this is to make up for it.

I'm hoping my post will prompt some action by those in the CSV group; I have tried to encourage some activity, but obviously to no avail.

I was unable to attend the agm on 3 September, as I was back in the UK. However, I have been given the role of Communications and Publicity and responsibility for creating a website for the group, independent of, but linked to CSF site. This is still embryonic and there are other jobs to do, such as creating a Christmas card to sell and raise funds. There was also a 'dress' event, for women's clothing, but I have no detail of how successful this was; date for this was 18 September.

Hi Chris you struck a chord at last csv meeting,and yes I am still totally new to this form of communication but to do my job as coordinator for the A/Ls I think I should at least try.Thanks for the nudge.
Carol

Carol - well done, for a novice IT/computer user. I subscribe to several forums which is a bit sad really, some social, some techie. CSV is a work in progress. I am always concerned if groups get bogged down with the chit-chat of managing while forgetting (unintentionally) the prime reason of why they are there. Raising funds is good but CSV is not broke by a long way, so chat about how we can boost coffers, I feel, detracts from that prime reason and alters focus.
All for now, trying to fight a battle for flood defences back in UK.

Carol & Chris - reading between the lines I gather you are saying that fund-raising is not the main aim of CSF. Congratulations - I wish other people would realise that! May sound strange coming from the national Treasurer, who seems always to be asking for money but we were told (by Macmillan) when CSF first started not to allow ourselves to be driven by fund-raising.

We are here to help people - as long as we have funds to do that, then that is all we need.

Carol, I heard your phone line/PC was down, so you may get to read this in due course.

First to round off my comment about flood defences in UK; as of last night our councillors voted 15-0 to build defences on our riverside. It has taken 2.5 years. They funding is solid and work stars within a week or two. Job done. The good people triumph again.

I posted elsewhere (and moneybags has responded) about the doctor register and concerns being raised in our group by one or two people (including myself). Linda Shepherd has kindly responded and it appears there may well be a French initiative for this, which will ease concerns I believe.

Vendee is also creating a newsletter before Christmas and I hope we can post this somewhere others in CSF can access it. A link on the CSV page may be the route there. The website is a work in progress, but now I have more time with flood defence lobbying over, I will try to pick this up. The Webmaster here has been most helpful.

To post your newsletter on this forum (of course you can post it elsewhere as well) - the best route is to select "New Topic" when you are in the "CSF Regional Notice Boards">>"Vendee" section of the forum (that is, don't select "Reply" to a Post - by creating a New Topic you can give it a relevant name such as "November Newsletter" - that way it will not simply get lost in the many posts replying to "Welcome to the Vendee section").

When you have put a little covering information, you can "upload" your newsletter:- below the area where you write your covering detail you will see an "Upload attachment" section. If you select the Browse button beside Filename, you can search your computer to find the newsletter, then add any further comment (not mandatory) before clicking the "Add the file" button.

The Newsletter file will be uploaded to the forum and will be available for all to see.

The Forum is set up to allow readers to decide if they want to download an Attachment, so your description should be detailed enough to let them decide to download or not (useful for slow dial-up connections like mine!!)

The attachment can be in a variety of formats, including PDF and most Microsoft file formats. If you have a computer running an operating system other than Microsoft Windows (for example Linux or Mac operating system) you should ensure that the file format you upload is a common format so that all can read it. You can of course upload the newsletter in several formats so readers can choose.

Any problems - post on the Webmaster section of the forum (this may help others in future) rather than send me a P(rivate) M(essage) or an e-mail.

Just spotted your post and webmaster's reply about the Newsletter. If you have a look at Sud de France in the Regional Notice Board, you will see that the P-O section have a newsletter which can be read or downloaded. Sud also have their membership form on the forum and put on photos and other items. It is a good way to share information and much easier than asking the webmaster of the CSF website to add things, because you can do it yourself.